Reception Music: Dancing the Night Away

Like I mentioned before, I am a big fan of live music, especially as far as the wedding is concerned. We were able to incorporate live music into the ceremony with a harpist, but the question of reception music was still up in the air.

Because we want to dance at our reception, I really only saw two options: a live band, or a DJ.  The band was my first choice. I was hoping for something fun and upbeat, and lots of cover songs to keep everyone on the dance floor.

Something a little like this... /  Image via Moving Colors Band, Dallas

...Or maybe even this ;) / Image via Fanpop

As much as I would've really liked a band to be there dancing the night away with us, when we decided on our venue, we realized a large, multi-person band was probably not the best choice. In fact, their setup would more than likely take up our entire dance floor. Part of the reason we chose the Village Ballroom for our reception was because of the smaller, intimate feel. However, this "quaintness" also carried over to the dance floor, and this didn't quite match up with my desire for live music. I've used this picture of the ballroom before, but it gives you an idea of the size of our dance floor:

See the dance floor back in the corner? / Photo Credit - Piazza in the Village on Facebook

Because we are having a somewhat small wedding (100-120) people, the larger ballroom which holds around 300 would have completely swallowed us and our guests, and we decided that the large dance floor was going to look mighty intimidating if only a few guests were already out there. We really want to encourage the family and friends who come to celebrate with us to do just that - celebrate! And for us, that includes showing off some dance moves and just having a good time, so the Village Ballroom was the best choice, eliminating the option for a band. A little disappointing, but definitely not the end of the world. That led us to our other option: the DJ. 

Searching for a DJ was actually a very, very short process for Mr. Coach and I. I spent some time searching for a few DJs I liked based on their reviews, pictures, websites, etc., but I knew we needed to get some more information and meet a few of them before we decided.  After emailing back and forth with about five of them, I had received quotes from the majority and each of them, with the exception of one, quoted me almost identical prices. The exception was Randy Ro Entertainment. Needless to say, I set up a meeting with Randy immediately. Mr. Coach and I decided we would meet with him first, and if for some reason we didn't want to use him, we would consider some of the more expensive options. We weren't really expecting to be too picky going into this meeting. We have a lot of ideas about what songs we want played, so we really just need someone to manage the playlists, as well as emcee the events happening during the reception.

Luckily, the meeting went exceptionally well. We loved getting to talk with Randy, he was very helpful and listened to what we had to say, and we decided to use his company for our DJ services.  We actually gave him the deposit right then and there, after deciding we'd be crazy not to use him! He has experience working at the Piazza and in our ballroom, which was a plus because we wanted someone who knew about the size and what "type" of wedding it would be. 

Side note: As far as pricing, we found out that the exceptional rate he gave us was because of his close proximity to our venue, and the fact that he really doesn't like to lose business that is literally right next door. Totally makes sense - and worked out perfectly for us! We get a first class DJ for half of the price of others in the DFW area.

Have you had any pleasant surprises so far in the planning process? Tell me about your reception music - did you hire a DJ or band? Anyone having someone man the iPod as an alternative?